'One of the largest human experiments in history' was conducted on unsuspecting residents of San Francisco

The
north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge is seen surrounded by fog
on September 8, 2013, in San Francisco.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

San Francisco's fog is
famous, especially in the summer, when weather conditions
combine to create the characteristic cooling blanket that sits
over the Bay Area.

But one fact many may not know about San Francisco's fog is that
in 1950, the US military conducted a test to see whether it could
be used to help spread a biological weapon in a
"simulated germ-warfare attack." This was just
the start of many such tests around the country that would go on
in secret for years.

But, as she writes, it was also "one of the largest offenses of
the Nuremberg Code since its inception."

The code stipulates that "voluntary, informed consent" is
required for research participants, and that experiments that
might lead to death or disabling injury are unacceptable.

The unsuspecting residents of San Francisco certainly could not
consent to the military's germ-warfare test, and there's good
evidence that it could have caused the death of at least one
resident of the city, Edward Nevin, and hospitalized 10 others.

This is a crazy story; one that seems like it must be a
conspiracy theory. An internet search will reveal plenty of
misinformation and unbelievable conjecture about these
experiments. But the core of this incredible tale is documented
and true.

'A successful biological warfare attack'

It all began in late September 1950, when over a few days, a Navy
vessel used giant hoses to spray a fog of two kinds of bacteria,
Serratia marcescens and Bacillus globigii — both believed at the
time to be harmless — out into the fog, where they disappeared
and spread over the city.

"It was noted that a successful BW [biological warfare] attack on
this area can be launched from the sea, and that effective
dosages can be produced over relatively large areas," concluded a
later-declassified military report, cited by
the Wall Street Journal.

Successful indeed, according to Leonard Cole, the
director of the Terror Medicine and Security Program at Rutgers
New Jersey Medical School. His book, "Clouds
of Secrecy," documents the military's secret bioweapon
tests over populated areas. Cole wrote:

Nearly all of San Francisco received 500 particle minutes per
liter. In other words, nearly every one of the 800,000 people in
San Francisco exposed to the cloud at normal breathing rate (10
liters per minute) inhaled 5,000 or more particles per minute
during the several hours that they remained airborne.

This was among the first but far from the last of these sorts of
tests.

These tests included the large-scale releases of bacteria in the
New York City subway system, on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and in
National Airport just outside Washington, DC.

In a 1994 congressional testimony, Cole said that none of this
had been revealed to the public until a 1976 newspaper story
revealed the story of a few of the first experiments — though at
least a Senate subcommittee had heard testimony about experiments
in New York City in 1975, according to a 1995 Newsday report.

A mysterious death

When Edward Nevin III, the grandson of the Edward Nevin who died
in 1950, read about one of those early tests in San Francisco, he
connected the story to his grandfather's death from a mysterious
bacterial infection. He began to try to convince the government
to reveal more data about these experiments. In 1977, they
released a report
detailing more of that activity.

In 1950, the first Edward Nevin had been recovering from a
prostate surgery when he suddenly fell ill with a severe
urinary-tract infection containing Serratia marcescens,
the theoretically harmless bacterium that's known for turning
bread red in color. The bacteria had reportedly never been found
in the hospital before and was rare in the Bay Area (and in
California in general).

The bacteria spread to Nevin's heart and he died a few weeks
later.

Another 10 patients showed up in the hospital over the next few
months, all with pneumonia symptoms and the odd presence of
Serratia marcescens. They all recovered.

Nevin's grandson
tried to sue the government for wrongful death, but the court
held that the government was immune to a lawsuit for negligence
and that they were justified in conducting tests without
subjects' knowledge. According to The Wall
Street Journal, the Army stated that infections must have
occurred inside the hospital and the US Attorney argued that they
had to conduct tests in a populated area to see how a biological
agent would affect that area.

In 2005,
the FDA stated that "Serratia marcescens bacteria ... can
cause serious, life-threatening illness in patients with
compromised immune systems." The bacteria has shown up in a few
other Bay Area health crises since the 1950s,
according to The San Francisco Chronicle, leading to some
speculation that the original spraying could have established a
new microbial population in the area.

While Nevin lost his lawsuit, he said afterward,
as quoted by Cole, "At least we are all aware of what can
happen, even in this country ... I just hope the story won’t be
forgotten."